Phoenix - February 2001 - 28 May 2008

ELEPHANT ORPHANAGE PROJECT - EOP
A ZAWA Project, supported by DSWF

EOP FIELD REPORT

DATE: - 01/06/08

TO: - Dr L Saiwana, Director General
Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA)

CC: - Melanie Shepherd, CEO - DSWF
DSWF Board of Trustees, UK
Steering Committee, DSWF Zambia
James Milanzi, ZAWA Regional Manager West
ZAWA Management Team, Kafue National Park
Dr Ian & Nolene Parsons, Matobo Veterinary Services
Dr Chiwala, ITT Veterinary Services
Munda Wanga Wildlife Sanctuary
James Florence, PR & Marketing

AUTHOR: - Sport Beattie, DSWF Country Representative - Zambia

SUBJECT: - The tragic loss of Phoenix on 28/05/08

Summary
At 1720hrs on Wednesday 28th May 2008, after emergency medical intervention by Dr Chiwala (ITT government vet) and Dr Ian Parsons (Matobo Veterinary Services), Phoenix passed away quietly from a chronic illness. This illness has since been diagnosed as Babesiosis, (also known as biliary/red water - see veterinary report attached). Babesiosis is a tick borne disease and is unprecedented in elephant. Following a post mortem Phoenix was buried in-situ at the Elephant Orphanage Project (EOP) boma. Her tusks were removed and handed over to Ngoma HQ, Kafue NP for safe keeping.

Statement
At 0600hrs, on the morning of 26th May (Public Holiday), Phoenix approached the boma and lay down beneath her favourite tree. Over the past few months Phoenix had exhibited this strange behaviour of lying down for no apparent reason. This anomaly was initially suspected to be due to the ingestion of poisonous muhrooms, however, this diagnosis was later attributed to a lack of nutrition. Hence, dietary supplements of milk powder, lactade, horse pellets and nshima were provided accordingly.

By 1000hrs on Mon 26th of May, Phoenix was still down. Powdered milk, horse pellets and brute strength were used to coax her back into a standing position, but to no avail. By late afternoon Phoenix had still not risen. Her condition appeared to be deteriorating. Attempts were made to contact both the local vet (Dr Chiwala) and the wildlife vet (Dr Parsons), but this was not possible due to the Public Holiday. Communications with the local vet were established in the evening - plans were agreed for Dr Chiwala to visit Phoenix in the morning, if she had still not managed to get to her feet.

Phoenix was made comfortable and covered in blankets. A large fire was made close to her position for added warmth. EOP Keepers and the ZAWA scout maintained an alert vigil by her side throughout the night. Tepid sugared water, lactade, cabbages, nshima and pellets were offered to Phoenix at every opportunity, but she showed no real appetite for these foodstuffs. By 0600hrs on Tues the 27th of May, it was observed that her condition had worsened. Dr Chiwala arrived at approx 0800hrs and immediately began administering IV fluids into Phoenix. Her vital statistics were found to be within the normal ranges, though her temp was slightly low. After stabilising Phoenix, Dr Chiwala took blood smears of each of the younger orphans as a matter of precaution.

At 0900hrs communications were established with Dr Parsons, who immediately changed his schedule to accommodate our predicament. An emergency flight was secured with Zamfari, who also immediately changed their schedule for us. Emergency medical supplies were purchased in Lusaka.
At 1330hrs myself, Dr Parsons and Nicholas Todd (pilot) departed from Lusaka Interntional airport for Ngoma. At 1500hrs Dr Parsons was on site and by Phoenix's side. At the time of arrival Phoenix was stable but in a very weakened state. Dr Chiwala debriefed Dr Parsons and handed the situation over to him.

For the next 10hrs Dr Parsons administered IV fluids and various medicines to virtually bring Phoenix back from the brink of death. Attempts were made to get Phoenix to ingest some pellets/powdered milk/replensol - but she showed no appetite. All fruit and vegetables that had been purchased earlier in the nearest town Ithezi Thezi by senior Volunteer Belinda Pumfrett were offered to Phoenix - these were the only food items of interest to her at this point in time. By 2300hrs Phoenix had started to show a limited improvement and began making attempts to stand, by swinging her legs. With the use of the landrover and all available manpower in camp Phoenix was rolled over onto her other side to facilitate blood flow and standing. This helped a little, but she was still too weak to stand.

Throughout the second night IV fluids were administered + further medications - (27 x IV drips were administered in total). Warmth and an alert vigil were afforded to Phoenix until 0600hrs on Wed 28th May, at which point it was again attempted to get her to stand, but she was just too weak. She could still not be tempted by warm powdered milk, sugared water and nshima. Phoenix only seemed to have an appetite for fresh fruit and veg - particularly apples and rape.

At 0800hrs, with Phoenix in a much more stable condition than the previous afternoon, Dr Parsons had to leave (with blood tests), to attend to another emergency. The general consensus at this point was that we needed to get as much nutrition into Phoenix as soon as possible, at whatever cost. To this end, Belinda returned to Ithezi Thezi to purchase every single available bit of fresh fruit and vegetables in order to give me the opportunity to return to Lusaka to collect the landrover and additional vital feed and medication. Meanwhile, Phoenix's Keepers and all available help were instructed to turn her every 3 - 4 hrs and to offer her anything she would eat, until Belinda's return.

Dr Parsons highlighted that if Phoenix had made no further improvements by the following day then, the difficult decision to euthanase would have to be considered for obvious humane reasons.

I arrived in Lusaka at 1130hrs, gathered everything I could in to my landrover and an hour later, with a full load of apples, cabbages, sugar cane and water melons left for the immediate return to the field.

By the time Belinda returned Phoenix had drunk a little sugared water and eaten a small amount of nshima and whilst initially she showed some interest in the fruit and vegetables, by 1500hrs Phoenix became listless and had lost all sign of appetite, even for her favourite treats - like apples and powdered milk.

At 1700hrs, Belinda and some of the Keepers went to gather firewood for the night and during their absence, at 1720hrs, Phoenix passed quietly away with no signs of distress. She was with her favourite Keeper, Sydney, at the time. I received the call of Phoenix's passing at 1900hrs as soon as I arrived within phone range. Morale in camp was obviously very low. I arrived at Ngoma and liaised with a ZAWA officer to pass on information and to organise a team to help with a post mortem the following day at dawn.

At 0800hrs on Thurs 29th of May the post mortem proceeded. At all times a ZAWA Wildlife Police Officer was present supervising proceedings with a very knowledgeable and watchful eye. Notes and Video + photographic evidence was taken through all stages but no conclusive observations could initially be made. Small lesions/ulcers were observed in some of the stomach linings, but these seemed to be insignificant. A strange tumourous type growth was found around the heart and lung area. This 'growth' together with the 'affected' heart and lung tissue was kept as a sample for Dr Parsons to analyse through the biopsy.

At 1725hrs on Thurs 29th May, (exactly 24hrs after her death), Phoenix was buried in a deep hole beneath her favourite tree, with all signs of the post mortem eradicated with fire to eliminate any possible attraction to the boma of any nearby predators/scavengers.

On Fri 30th May Phoenix small tusks were handed in to ZAWA Ngoma HQ Kafue National Park and their details have been recorded in the central ivory registry. I then delivered the suspected 'growth' + heart and lung tissue to Dr Parsons on my return to Lusaka on Sat 31st May. The 'growth' was observed to be coagulated serum, however further tests are being conducted at the time of writing to rule out 100% the possibility of a cancerous growth/tumour.

On Sunday 1st June, Dr Parsons called with the news that they had diagnosed the cause of death as Babesiosis - a tick borne disease of the blood. Also known as biliary, or red water, this disease was in it's chronic stages, which suggests that Phoenix had been suffering from this ailment for a long period of time. According to Dr Parsons Babesiosis is unprecedented in elephants and the case has been put forward to the Veterinary Forum for further discussion.

Conclusion
This has been a very difficult and distressing time for all persons involved. Every effort was made to maximise our limited resources to ensure that Phoenix received the best possible treatment in the shortest possible space of time. In the end, this was obviously not quite enough to beat what had been secretly manifesting itself inside her system for a very long time.

Thought hindsight may be quick to highlight our shortcomings - this is to be expected - we must learn from them and find the best way to progress forwards to ensure that this project, which was started because of Phoenix, may become a success story for Zambian conservation and a legacy for all future generations to enjoy and be proud of. Long may her memory live on.

END OF REPORT

If you are interested in helping DSWF to save Zambia's wildlife and help release Phoenix in to the wild, please follow the links below to make a donation or you can phone the Foundation Office on 01483 272323.

Every little contribution helps wildlife and remember 100% of your donation will go in full to the project - thank you!

You can also help by becoming a member of DSWF. Click here for more information

top of page